The Return of The 4400: An Interview with Show Creator Scott Peters - Page 3

"It's a definite steering through shark-infested waters."

Adding yet another activity to keep him away from his television set, Peters has been invited to lead a Master Class at the upcoming Banff World Television Festival, a gathering of industry professionals. "I'm really looking forward to interacting with everybody up there and sharing my experiences and learning about other people, of their trials and tribulations in this great, terrific, wonderful, fun business."

He intimates that he will share the possibly not-so-fun intrigues of getting The 4400 on the air and preserving his creative vision. "We've been through many hurdles, we had to avoid many landmines, we had to protect the show at times, we had to let the show go in a certain direction that maybe wasn't intended another time."

"I think the biggest obstacle all the way through is just to protect the original vision," he continued. "There are a lot of elements that come at you as you're trying do that, and you either have to pick up a shield and a sword and try to defend it, or let it go. You have to pick your battles and what you are willing to relinquish and what you're not willing to, in terms of the original vision. Sometimes you have to pick a battle and fight to the death."

His original vision has evolved over the years, though in a more organic, non-combative way. "Like when you're bringing on an actor to play a character, you start to write to their strengths and stay away from their weaknesses," Peters explained. "So like that, as the series begins to unfold and evolve and take on a life of its own, you get a sense of what really works well and what doesn't work so well, given our time and budget and what we can achieve."

His pride in the show, which earned him an Emmy nomination for co-writing the pilot mini-series, is evident. "I like that it's evolving, and I like that we're deepening the story between all the characters. It's not just a story of plot, but it's a story that really brings these characters to life and keeps them as three-dimensional people and not just cardboard cutouts."

Article Author: Diane Kristine Wild

Diane writes about boring things by day, pop culture things by night. She also runs the TV, Eh? website, a compilation of news about Canadian television. Follow her on Twitter @deekayw for more random thoughts.

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